UFC 70 a Near-Record Sellout

Earlier this year, the UFC opened a satellite office in the United Kingdom, and based on the success of last night’s UFC 70 event, the organization is surely pleased with its decision.

Saturday’s event was the first UFC show outside of the United States in more than five years. It was also the first step toward the organization’s new initiative to make the UFC a true worldwide player.

And based on last night’s warm reception, the show will likely be one of many to hit Europe in the next year.

A sold-out crowd of 14,921 filed into Manchester’s M.E.N. Arena for yesterday’s event, which featured Gabriel Gonzaga’s stunning upset of Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic. The capacity crowd tallied a live gate of $2.6 million — the third-highest total in the 12-year history of the facility.

Although the UFC heads home to the U.S. for its next major event (UFC 71 in Las Vegas), the organization will hit the road again for June 16’s UFC 72 event, which takes place at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast, Ireland. Additionally, Lorenzo Fertitta, who co-owns the Zuffa LLC (the parent company of the UFC and now PRIDE Fighting Championships) stated over that weekend that Spain, Italy and Germany will also get a chance to host UFC events in the near future.

Additionally, as MMAjunkie.com reported earlier today, UFC president Dana White said that Canada will also soon get an event.

In any manner, based on the success of yesterday’s event, England will likely see a return visit from the UFC (especially if Brit Michael Bisping is on the card). Although Manchester could probably sell out a future event again, other cities such as London and Liverpool are sure to receive some consideration, as well.

A total of 26 fighters got their chance to shine on Saturday as part of UFC 190 at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena. Now that UFC 190 is in the books, it’s time to commence MMAjunkie’s “Three Stars” ceremony.

The man known for cranking submissions to the point of injury added eye-gouging to his repertoire. But is the controversy of Rousimar Palhares too essential to his bizarre, awful appeal for his employers to take any meaningful action against him?